Rains have different meanings for different people and different meanings at difference places.

In my hometown in Himachal it meant these: that I couldn’t play cricket in the evening; that playing would mean slipping on chalaru (leaves of chir trees which had dried and turned brown); and that if it was a Friday, my white shoes would get upsettingly wet and dirty.

Rains also meant pakaudas and tea; pakaudas made with so much love, warmth and home (yes, home is a feeling) that all the bad cholesterol in them surely would turn to good cholesterol.

In Kolkata, rains meant heavy rains, an outpour. If you wanted to read a book in the library, you’d have to dash to the library, 100 meters away, feeling a bit of a sluggish Usain Bolt. It meant ankle deep water and an ill tempered, damp vibe.

Despite all this, it made Kolkata all the more beautiful. The greenery inside the campus glistened.

In Delhi, unfortunately, most often and not, I don’t realise whether it’s raining or not. The house is closed, the AC is on and the windows are shut.

Such a mood-dampening thing not to witness the rains.

I think rains are a message to stop things. Pause for a bit. And watch. And ponder.

Ponder and realise that those white shoes and pakaudas meant a lot. And for once, stop the frenetic search for sunshine.

Ideas are worthless just on their own. Ideas need to be shared. Here are 10 ideas we are planning to work on at Lawctopus in the next 1 year.

Do let me know which ones do you like the best. If you’d like to help, email me at tanuj.kalia@lawctopus.com. Thank you for your time and help.

1. CLATapult: Develop www.clatapult.com into that sort of a website ‘for law aspirants’ like Lawctopus is ‘for law students’.

2. Job/internship site (modular internship plans): a platform likeinternshala.com where people can apply for internships and jobs.

3. Recruitment: a legal recruitment agency.

4. Online Law School: bridge the skill gap between top law school graduates and others. Not through legal knowledge (which can be gotten through reading books and internships) but through other skills.

5. Forum: a forum where law students and law aspirants and lawyers can interact with each other and among themselves.

6. Lawmato: just like your can search for restaurants as per your tastes and interests (Malviya Nagar, 1000-1500 Rs., Chinese, etc.) you’ll be able to search for internships (Law Firm, Mumbai, Stipend).

7. Mini Lawctopus: encourage law students to start mini Lawctopus magazines in their law schools. Encourage quality writing and discussion on issues that affect law schools and students.

8. Lawyer blogs: help lawyers start quality blogs.

9. Mentorship: encourage lawyers and senior law students to mentor young law students. Imagine getting mentored by a Jessup prize winner on mooting.

10. Event tickets: have a ticketing platform on Lawctopus. Want to register for a moot court? Do that on Lawctopus.

From Rohit Sharma, the value of hard work. With his talent, he should be bettering Kohli.

From Kohli, the value of hard work, again. He was not a born athlete. But if you call him that now, no one would raise an eye-brow. And yes, the value of passion. And the value of love and anti-love.

From Suresh Raina, the value of doing a little bit of extra, to excel. He’s in the team for his bowling. There are many better batsmen out there.

From Dhoni, the value of taking sports to not mean anything more than sports. He’s what the Buddha preached, in gloves and with a helmet. You win, you lose, in sports and in life. But thou shall not be depressed.

From Hardik Pandya, the value of knowing the difference between 99% and 100%. The value of being ‘nearly there’ and ‘being there’. If he improves his game, he’ll be among the best all-rounders. If he doesn’t he’ll have Joginder Sharma as his pal.

From Jadeja, the value of slogging it, day in and day out, and doing the same thing over and over again. His shoulder blades will rust, but consistency is important even if it’s boring.

From Ashwin, the value of innovation, of trying different things and sometimes, of sticking to the thing that’s working for you.

From Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the value of not loosing hope. The value of knowing when it’s your day and making the most of it. If it’s swinging, go bananas!

From Jasprit Bumrah, the value of you believing in the unique you. Of not giving in to the world’s demands of orthodoxy. If the world calls you crazy, thank them for the compliment.

From the good bowler that India never has, the value of knowing that that feeling incomplete all the time, is OK. But that shouldn’t stop you in your quest.

Instead of the ‘Rose day’, consider a ‘Rise day’; a day where you rise above the pettiness of daily life and dare to dream and do brave things, together.

Instead of the ‘Pro-pose day’, consider an ‘Anti-pose’ day; where you be your authentic self, and don’t go about posing for others.

Instead of the ‘Chocolate day’, consider a simpler ‘Food day’; where you feed the poor and watch them smile, instead of making a multi-billion dollar enterprise richer, and still watch both you and them, scowl.

Instead of the ‘Teddy day’, consider a more alive ‘Bear day’, where you express compassion to animals, because we’ve been needlessly cruel to them.

Instead of the ‘Promise day’, consider a ‘Commitment day’. Commitment is just a long term, kinder way viewing what you promised. Breaking a promise doesn’t mean that you broke the commitment.

Instead of the ‘Kiss day’, consider a ‘Miss day’, where you skip all physical contact with your partner. Watch your body go into turmoil. Watch, don’t react. And when you watch, you’ll realise how impermanent, biological and animalistic it all is.

And well, you can celebrate the ‘Hug day’. Hug tight and hug for long. Hug till your hormones die down and there’s a quiet; a quiet quiet enough for you to hear the heart-beat of the other.